In traditional online casinos, poker rooms and sportsbooks, a player is first required to register and to create an account on a gaming server of the casino, poker room or sportsbook. The player is then required to pre-fund the account by purchasing credit that can be consumed by the player in wagering and game play activities. The gaming server stores, at all times, a credit balance corresponding to the player's account, which decreases in accordance with wagers made by the player and increases in accordance with any winnings paid out to the player. Such pre-funding is usually made by means of a credit card, debit card, e-wallet, check or wire transfer.
When playing a game at the online casino, or participating in a multi-player poker game at the online poker room, the player may make any wager that is permitted for the particular game being played. The player's wagers are usually denominated in integral units of credit and there must be sufficient credit in the player's account to cover any wager that is made by the player.
The gaming server stores data relating to the type and size of each player's wager in a database on an associated storage device, such as a magnetic or optical disk.
In an online multiplayer poker room, the operator of the poker room levies a commission (or “rake”) on the cumulative amount of all player wagers in a multi-player poker game in order to derive revenue. The risk associated with game play is carried by the participating players who risk losing any wagers. It will be appreciated that the operator's rake can only be determined in arrears, once all of the players in the multi-player poker game have finished wagering.
The operator of an online casino, on the other hand, carries the risk associated with game play and is required to pay out all player wins. Traditionally, the revenue of an online casino is a function of a “gross win” derived by the casino over a particular period, which is the sum of all wagers made by players during the period less the sum of all winnings achieved by the players during the same period. As is the case in a multi-player poker game, the revenue of an online casino can only be established in arrears, at the end of the period in question.
The traditional model of requiring the player to first register with an online casino or poker room to create a credit account on a gaming server, and to pre-fund the credit account by means of a payment instrument is unnecessarily restrictive, particularly in jurisdictions where usage of such payment instruments is not widespread.
There is thus a desire for an alternative on-line gaming model in which a player is able to commence online game play without first requiring the player to perform a registration step followed by pre-funding of a player credit account.